Firing means for torpedoes.



U DAVIS.

FIRING MEANS FOR TORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.14,190'7.

g1 41 g"; l a Patented Mar. 2, i909.

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OLELAN-D DAVIS, OF THE UNITED STATES N NATIONAL TORPEDO COMPANY, 'OF NEWAV' Y, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF MAINE- FIRING MEANS FOR TORPEDOES.

I specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 1%, 1907. Serial No.-106,497.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLELAND DAVIS, lieutenant-commander, U. S. Navy, acitizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District ofColumbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in FiringMeans for Torpedoes and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact, description of the, invention, such as will enableothers skilled in, the art to which it appertains to make and use theSalI1( My invention relates to firing devices for torpedoes in general,and the objects 'of ny invention are to produce such a device as willnot offer any material resistance to the passage of the torpedo throughthe water, one that will-not tend to deflect the same during flight, onethat will be certain to act no mate ter at what angle the torpedo maystrike the object attacked, one that will be safe under all conditionsof .handling and which is simple and certain in action and cheap toconstruct.

With these ends in View my invention consists in the novel combinationof parts an details of construction hereinafter more'fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims.

.Referring to the accompanying drawing forming'a part of thisspecification; Figure 1, illustrates a longitudinal sectional view ofthe forward end of a. torpedo with my inventionattached, and, Fig' 2, anenlarged sectional view of the contact making device.

1, represents the body of a standard torpedo shell; 2, the war head, and3, a hollow araboloidal shaped shell conforming to the interior contourof'the war head 2, and sepa-' rated therefrom by the insulating means 4and 5. Axially through the nose of the torpasses the screw shaft 6,carrying the c0ntact'7, and the small propeller 8. The direction of thethreads of this shaft 6, are so chosen relatively to the propellerblades, that as the propeller is turned, owing to the torpedo beingforced through the water, the said shaft will be forced forward to closethe contact between the shell 3, and the contact 7. The friction betweenthe propeller hub and the threads of said shaft, is furthermore suchthat after the contact 7, touches the shell 3, the propeller will then,as it continues to revolve, unscrew itself from said shaft and drop off.That is to say, the friction be tween the shaft and its nut is less thanthe d particular arrangement of perienced due to the friction o frictionbetween the propellers hub and the shaft, and therefore theconta'ct7,\vill first be closed and then the propeller will automat-Iatented. March 2, 1909.

ically detachitself from the torpedo. Should it fail to drop off,however, no harm will be done, since the propeller is so small that it iwould not seriously interfere with the normal action of the torpedo.

9, repr sents any suitable source of electricity, one pole'of which isconnected tov the outer shell of the torpedo, and'the other pole to theinner shell 3, through the contact 7.

10, represents any suita le electric rimer, or other char e firingmeans, adapter to be operated by e ectricity, and 11, any suitableexplosive adapted to be ignited by the firing means 10 j I have shown inthe drawings a gun and projectile carried by the torpedo, but the sameper se forms no part of my present invention, which is broadly adaptedto tor-. pedoes ineneral, although I prefer to fire such gun, y thisparticular invention, and consider the latter especially adapted forthis gun and torpedo.

The particular advanta es of the above disposition of'parts, lie in t 1eimportant fact that the outer contour and ballistics of the torpedo arepreservedintact, except for .the

small axially p'laced propeller and screw shaft, which do not afiect thesame; and therefore no deflection of the torpedo durin flight is exthewater against projections not axially laced. To the fact that theinterior shell of 'ers an infinite number of oints'of contact, so thatno matter where t e war head shell may be forced in, a contact with theinner shell will be made, and to the fact that since the circuitisnormally broken at two points, one of which is, or may be, made onlyafter the torpedo is in flight, absolutely no accidents can occur owingto the war head being accidentally crushed in. i I The 0 eration of myfirin device is as follows he torpedo is loader into its tube by anysuitable means and fired when the propeller 8 causes the contact 7 toconnect one pole of the battery with the inner shell 3, as

Owing to the contact 7 being insulated from prising'a circuit,- and thescrew shaft 6, a short circuit between the said shaft and outer shellthrough the salt water is obviated.

Of course I do not wish to be limited to the exact details ofconstruction above described, since it is evident that the same may beval ried Without departing from the spirit'of my b f h H com matron o as e invention.

Having now described my invention What I claim is 2- 1. In a torpedohaving a smooth unbroken exterior on all sides of its axis, thecombination of a charge; and a contact firing means for the same adaptedto operate at any angle 1 at which the torpedo may strike andcomaplu'rality of contacts 111 seriesin said ,circuit, whereby thelatter is normally broken at a plurality of points, substantially asdescribed. I

2. In a torpedo having a smooth exterior surface, except at the axis ofits nose, the l combination of a charge; an electric firing means forsaid charge, including a circuit, a plurality of contacts in series atwhich said I circuit is normally broken, and means for upon the firingof the torpedo, substantially is described.

'Iu torpedo having a war head, the combination of a shell conforming tothe contour of said head, and a firing means ada ted to be operated uponthe contact of. said l ead with said shell, substantially as described.

4. In a torpedo having a war head, the combination of a shell conformingto the contour of said head; an electric circuit, and a firing meansadapted to be operated upon the contact of said head with said shell,substan- J tially as described.

5. In a torpedo having a war head, the

combination of a shell conforming to the con tour of said head,- anelectric circuit; a conl tact ada ted to connect the same with saidshell, an a firing means ada ted to be operl ated upon thc contact ofsaicIhead with said shell, substantially as described.

In a torpedo having a war head, the 3 combination of a shell conformingto the an electric cirolfit connected to contour of said head andinsulated therefrom; an electric circuit connected to said head at onepole; a contact connected to the other pole; means for causing saidcontact to connect with said shell, and a firing means in said circuit,substantially as described.

7. In a torpedo having a War head, the following the general contour-ofsaid head and insulated therefrom; an electric circuit connected to saidhead at one pole ,".a contact connected to the other pole; meanscomprising a screw shaft for causing said contact to connect with saidshell, and a firing means in said circuit, substantially as described.

8. In a torpedo having a war head, the combination of a shell followingcontour of said head and insulated therefrom an electric .circuitconnected to said head at. one pole; a contact connected to the otherpole; means for causing said contact to connect with said and apropeller, and a firing means in said circuit, substantially asdescribed.

9. In a torpedo having a war head, the combination of -a shell followingthe general contour of said head and insulated therefrom;

said head at one pole; a contact connected pole; means adapted tooperate after the torpedo is fired for causing said contact to connectwith said shell, and a firing means in said circuit, substantially asdescribed.

10. In a torpedo the combination of the war head; a shell inside saidhead and insulated therefrom, a contact adapted to connect with saidshell; an electric circuit joined to said head and contact; a'firinmeans in the said circuit and a'screw propfiler adapted to cause saidcontact to connect with said shell after the torpedo is fired,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, presence of two witnesses.

(LELAND DAVIS.

Witnesses: F. ODEN l-lons'ramxx, HORACE H. VVEsTooTT.

the general shell, comprising a screw shaft to the other

